Re-grading the Aaron Rodgers trade following the Packers decisive win over the Cowboys

It must be nice to be a Green Bay Packers fan. The Cheeseheads have enjoyed 16 years of Hall of Fame-level play from Brett Favre, followed immediately by 15 years of arguably better play from Aaron Rodgers. Just as fans of the Bears, Vikings, and Lions thought that their three-plus decades of NFC North torment were over, the Pack has done it again.

New starter Jordan Love has gotten better and better as the season has progressed, and he led Green Bay to a 48-32 demolition of the Cowboys in AT&T Stadium to ruin Dallas' perfect home record on Sunday and advance his team to the Divisional Round of the playoffs to face the 49ers next week.

Now seems as good a time as ever to re-evaluate the trade that sent Aaron Rodgers to the Jets, and to look at how history has repeated itself once again.

Aaron Rodgers trade grade for Green Bay Packers: A-

The same blueprint that was used to trade an aging Favre to the Jets back in 2008 was run to perfection by Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst last year with Rodgers. Once again, Green Bay dealt a beloved icon whose best years were behind him in order to facilitate a move to a younger quarterback who had spent multiple years learning from the bench, and once again, they've left no doubt that they've won that trade.

The play of Love, especially down the stretch this season, is the reason this trade receives such a high grade for the Pack. Just as Favre did at the tail end of his time in Green Bay, Rodgers wore out his welcome with the team and fans. The vibes in Green Bay were bad last year, especially after the team lost a Week 18 win-and-get-in home game against the Lions to end its season, and Rodgers didn't help matters with his wackadoo personality and an escalation of tensions between himself, the coaching staff, and the front office.

Love has played with poise, looking unflappable in leading Green Bay to three straight wins to end the regular season, and he elevated his play even further in his first playoff start. The fact that the Packers went from missing the playoffs with Rodgers last year to not only making the playoffs, but looking like a true threat through one game, shows that improbably, Green Bay has done it again. Love has even looked Rodgers-esque with his pocket presence and while making certain throws, showing that like his predecessor, he learned a lot from the legend that came before him.

The Packers moved up two spots in the first round of this past year's draft by dealing Rodgers, while also picking up what basically amounts to two second-rounders: one this past year, and one in the upcoming draft, while also moving back 37 spots by swapping a fifth-rounder for the Jets' sixth-rounder.

Green Bay selected Iowa linebacker Lukas Van Ness with that first-rounder, and it's fair to say that the rookie struggled to live up to that lofty selection in his first professional year. Van Ness recorded four sacks and 32 tackles during the regular season while playing on a Packers defense that ranked 17th in both points and yards allowed per game.

The second-round selection Green Bay received from the Jets was used on Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave. While Musgrave hasn't popped in the way that Lions rookie Sam LaPorta has, he did show some rapport with Love in securing 34 receptions for 352 yards and a touchdown.

It remains to be seen who Green Bay will select with the other second-round pick they received, but with the Jets stumbling to a 7-10 record, that selection has a lot of value at #41 overall. Van Ness and Musgrave also figure to improve in their sophomore seasons, which could bump this grade up to an A or A+.

New York Jets trade grade: D

On the one hand, it may seem unfair to grade the Jets so harshly after Rodgers tore his Achilles just four plays into the season, but that's also the risk you take when you place such a heavy burden on a 39-year-old quarterback's shoulders.

It's important to remember that Jets fans were almost universal in their love (no pun intended) of this trade. The team had been trapped in Zach Wilson hell for two years with no end in sight, and with a legit top-five defense and playmakers such as Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall on offense, it seemed that Gang Green was a quarterback away from making a Super Bowl push.

Rodgers gave the impression that he had turned over a new leaf from the mercurial player who left Green Bay, and he even won over legions of new fans thanks to his winning turn as the star of Hard Knocks this past offseason. It took only four plays for all of that optimism to vanish, though, a feeling that Jets fans have become all too familiar with.

A slew of questionable (at best) decisions from Rodgers following his injury erased all the goodwill he built up during Hard Knocks, and that needs to be factored in, as well. From getting Jets fans' hopes up by claiming he could return from his injury this season, to spouting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and publicly feuding with Jimmy Kimmel by making outlandish and untrue accusations on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers' public persona has reverted back from "veteran leader" to "talented loon." For a franchise like the Jets that have dealt with being a laughingstock before, this kind of stuff doesn't help.

What keeps the Jets from receiving an F for this trade? For one thing, Rodgers will be ready to play next year, and he can help ease the pain of this season by delivering on the field in 2024. Secondly, by playing less than 65 percent of the Jets' offensive snaps this year, the draft selection conveyed from New York to Green Bay is only a second-rounder instead of a first. A small silver lining for sure, but as Jets fans have learned over the years, things can always get worse.